MSE News: Not-for-profit energy provider launches, but is Robin Hood Energy any good?

antrobus

snedger wrote: »

.....
Do not like utility companies making profits and giving dividends to shareholders.
....

You're in luck. RHE has (so far) never made a profit, and is technically insolvent, and is unable to pay dividends.:) Nottingham City Council did recently pump in £7.5m of share capital to make the business look a good deal less insolvent. And I do believe that RHE have claimed they are now profitable.

I have no idea as to whether or not Nottingham CC will expect a return on their investment. RHE Ltd is a straightforward company, it's not a CIC or anything. The 'not for profit' bit is just a statement of intent.

System

RHE is not alone.

Quote: Better for communities

Our profits will go straight back into Bristol. We’re owned by Bristol City Council, so the money you pay for your energy will help local communities. Feels good doesn’t it? Unquote

If I was a Bristol Council Tax Payer, I might have a contrarian view:

Quote: The firm, Bristol Energy, was set up in 2016 and aimed to be "a force for social good" by reinvesting its profits back into the community.

Bristol City Council has invested another £2m into an energy company it owns - taking the total to about £27m.

Managers expect it to be in profit by 2021 - two years later than predicted.

The firm posted losses of £7.7m in 2016-17 but is currently supplying more than 76,000 customers. Unquote (Source BBC)

fewkeste

If you look earlier in this thread you will see I posted positive comments about RHE.

However, when I left them (April 2017) they were in a right mess over billing, direct debits and meter readings and didn't provide appropriate and accurate information to my new supplier (Powershop.)

Recently, 18 months after I left them, they tried to backbill me. The bill was wrong because they used incorrect meter readings, but anyway I told them about the OFGEM rules on backbilling and I've not heard anything more from them.

I live on the outskirts of Nottingham so I am not a Nottingham City Council Tax payer, but if I were a city resident and Council Tax payer, I would be extremely annoyed at how much of my Council Tax has been poured into this loss making enterprise.

I cannot speak about their performance now, but in April 2017 I would no longer have recommended them.

fewkeste

snedger wrote: »

Odd that I cannot find my posts regarding RHE from 2015.

They are there - click on your name when in this thread to see a list of all your postings.

OPMDaze

chanz4 wrote: »

a lot of npower ex managers have set it up....say no more

So a firm that's been robbing the poor to feed the rich then

fewkeste

B13blues wrote: »

So a firm that's been robbing the poor to feed the rich then

I think they've been robbing all and wasting money on senseless vanity projects.